One of the presentations at the Arch Reactor open house covered WasabiNet, a 2-year-old community mesh network founded by Minerva Lopez and Ben West.
A mesh network is a cost-effective way for people to get Internet. WasabiNet uses about 8 DSL lines to cover 38 WiFi access points, and it covers about 14 blocks of Cherokee Street, and also provides Internet to Arch Reactor itself, near the intersection of Jefferson Ave. and Gravois. Access costs $9.99 per month for residents and $19.99 per month for businesses. Users can also access the network for free, but with speed limits and download quotas.
WasabiNet has been in the news since Friday, as PC World blogger Phil Shapiro cited WasabiNet as a prime reason why Google should bring its Gigabit Fiber project to St. Louis. The RFT interviewed WasabiNet founders Minerva Lopez and Ben West yesterday.
I’ve heard that KSDK did an interview as well, but I haven’t tracked down any video of the interview, yet.
